Discussion #4: Community Violence week of July 20
Your Post due Tuesday; your Reflection due Friday
Readings: E-articles
o Exposure to Community Violence & Violence Perpetration: The Protective Effects of Family Functioning
o Witnessing Violence: Bio-psycho-social Impact on Children
Overview: The research on community Violence (CV) has largely been confined to ethnic minority groups living in urban neighborhoods. What is missing is the CV witnessed in neighborhoods of smaller towns such as Bemidji. What happens when a child grows up with violence all around him/her? What happens when CV is considered normal functioning and a normal response to situations?
o Note: When responding to this discussion topic, look beyond it being an inner-city issue and remember it occurs in small towns also.
Instructions: Is sexting really a problem or merely normal behavior for todays generation? Has cyber-abuse become a serious problem with adolescents and young adults? Are existing resources in your home community prepared to address the needs of victims of sexting and cyber- abuse? If not, what needs to change?Community violence, once again, is another form of family violence, because the community has a large effect upon the family systems, typically effecting the younger generations in the community, influencing their behaviors. In smaller communities, like Bemidji, they often also lack resources that larger communities many have. Community violence can cause stress upon the family systems causing them to turn to other methods of attaining the support and services they need. This form of violence, is talked about within the family violence course because it influences the family system as a whole, causing them to use violence to attain the resources they need
Community violence often affects the younger generations, influencing their behaviors, because they are shown the behaviors from the leaders of their community and families. If children grow up learning that these behaviors are acceptable, they will continue the cycle of violence within their community and family systems. Once these children grow into adult they have potential to become the abusers of community violence, therefore creating more victims within the community.